


Cloudy Sunset

by RunaLiore



Series: MocaRan [1]
Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Also briefly featuring Moca's mom, And kissing as a form of distraction, Crying, Cuddling, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Making Out, Neck Kissing, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-09 03:01:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15257967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RunaLiore/pseuds/RunaLiore
Summary: Ran failed a really big test, which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if she didn't have an overbearing father who had only just started warming up to the idea of her being in a band. It's not the first time Ran has come home with Moca just to hide out and avoid her dad for a while, but Moca isn't sure exactly what she could do to help. Maybe it's enough just to offer a distraction?





	1. Distractions

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1 of 2
> 
> Thank you to Izilen for your help beta reading this!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beautiful MocaRan cuddle+kisses art by dllnllb!

Half-past six should’ve been the perfect time to watch the sunset, but at a quarter to five clouds started to clot the sky. Moca had watched the clouds gather from her rooftop almost since the moment she got home, laying back across the shingles with her arms outstretched in her wrinkled uniform. She watched the sun disappear into the murk at the end of the sky and she watched the Moon set behind the city, but the only thing she was really paying attention to was Ran.

Ran had walked home with Moca after school that day and without a word she’d followed Moca inside and up to her room. After staring through the window for a while, she had asked if they could go out onto the roof to watch the sunset… so there they were. It wasn’t much of a sunset, though, and while Moca was only curious at first, Ran’s silence was starting to worry her.

“Ah, Ran,” Moca raised a finger to her mouth and tilted her head, “That part of the sky there, it looks like a pile of bread.”

“Are you always thinking about bread?” Ran didn’t look aside and her voice was strained.

“Well, see,” Moca rolled her head aside to look at Ran, “Moca-chan can think about bread and other things all at the same time. In fact I’m always thinking of bread and other things all at once, it’s one of my super talents.”

She smirked and waited for Ran to glare back at her or huff or say anything at all. She didn’t. The sun sank a bit further and the air turned pale and purple like everything was lit through an old cellophane filter. After a while, Moca looked back up at the clouds.

“So how bad was it?” She asked, and immediately she heard Ran grumbling.

“Leave me alone.”

Moca rolled onto her side and propped her hand up on her elbow, smirking again. “You know, Ran, I’ll let you study with the great Moca-chan if you want, if you buy me a Ramune tomorrow~”

Ran’s face twisted up and she shut her eyes. “It’s fine! It's not like I’m not stupid…” She rolled away and laid he head across her arm. Moca felt a drop in her stomach like she’s swallowed a stone.

“Ah… yeah…”

Ran clenched her fists and rolled onto her back again. “…Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Moca said, now on her back too and struggling for half a smile, “It wasn’t a big test, it won’t count for that much by the end of the year.”

“I know, but!” Ran’s brow creased and her jaw tightened, “My dad’ll still get pissed about it. I’ll have to spend Saturdays on extra lessons till the makeup. I’ll have to miss Saturday practice, and…” Her voice cracked. Moca managed a weak smile.

“Okay~ Then Moca-chan will take extra lessons too!”

Ran sighed. “I really doubt that.”

“Eh? Why would you doubt me, Ran? That hurts.”

A splash of cold hit Moca’s nose, and then another hit her hand. The rain started slow as they headed back down and then it picked up so fast that they were just a moment away from getting drenched by the time they climbed back inside. The storm lapped against the window as they shed their uniform jackets and hung them up to dry.

Without a word exchanged, they decided to hang out in Moca’s room instead of on the roof, and without hesitation Ran sat down beside Moca on the floor against her bed. She leaned over onto Moca, listless and staring at the floor. After reaching for Ran’s hand and stopping short, Moca grinned and laughed in the campiest way she could.

“Fufufu… Ran cannot resist my charms~”

Ran glared up at her. “Shut up.”

Moca laughed honestly then, but Ran went back to watching the floor.

“…I don’t really want to go back home tonight. I don’t want to deal with my dad right now.”

“Ooh, yay!” Moca threw her hands up, “Ran is coming for a sleepover~”

Ran glared at her through the corner of her eye, but then she softened when she felt Moca’s left hand slide over her own. Moca was leaning back against Ran now and Ran grumbled again.

“Ugh… this is so pathetic. I’m such an idiot.”

“There, there,” Moca patted Ran’s head with her free hand, “No one can blame you for falling for Moca-chan’s cute face.”

Just as Moca expected, Ran glowered up at her. “I meant the test!”

Moca smirked. “It’s ok Ran~ You don’t have to hide your love for me when it’s just the two of us~”

“Pfft!” Finally, Ran laughed. Moca felt like her entire body was snow and it was all turning into a weird mashed up happy puddle.

“Moca, you dumbass.” Ran was smiling, and Moca smiled back. Ran kept on leaning against her and Moca tapped their fingers together.

After knowing each other for so long, and after studying Ran’s expressions for so many years, Moca had a good idea of what she was feeling. When she was quiet and looked at the sky or when she leaned over against her or when she glared and told her to shut up, Moca knew what that meant. She understood the sort of thoughts that were going through her head at that moment. She knew, but even after all this time she often had no idea how to help.

Ran’s father was more supportive of her now, sure, but he was still being awkward about the whole flower arranging legacy. On top of that, recently he'd gotten incredibly wary of Moca once he found out that she and Ran were dating. For that matter, he looked at all of Afterglow a bit differently once he found out they were all lesbians. Honestly, Moca never understood why he was so surprised. Still, there wasn’t a lot Moca could really do to help change that situation and a lot of times she wasn’t even sure if she was really doing Ran any good. She didn’t really know how to make things better and because of that she felt all kinds of useless, but hopefully, she thought, even a useless Moca could be helpful to Ran, maybe…

Ran shifted a bit and Moca realized that their faces were now incredibly close. She considered moving them closer. She really, really wanted to move closer.

Then Ran’s nose wrinkled up and she sniffled a bit. She sniffled again and Moca reached up to pat her back.

“Ah, Ran! It’s ok… you can cry on Moca-chan as much as you need.”

“No, it’s – ugh, god, Moca you just farted didn’t you?” Ran’s face scrunched up and she pushed herself away. Moca looked appalled.

“What? No, I don’t think so? I – oh, it does smell really bad all of a sudden.”

Moca sniffed the air and Ran pinched her nose and backed away. “Oh my god it’s so bad!”

“But it wasn't me. Probably, I think–” Moca stood and her schoolbag fell over beside her. A soft, slick thud hit the floor and an oozing, black shape spilled out of the bag. It was black and pulpy and covered in slick, shiny patches of rot. Ran stared at the lump in horror and her face went pale. Moca leaned a bit closer and blinked.

“Ah,” she said, watching a huge chunk slough off the rotting mass, “I forgot I packed that snack last spring. I think… it was an apple? Did I pack an apple? Maybe a pear… Ran, what season are pears ready?”

“Moca! Clean that up!” Ran was still staring, half covering her mouth, “What the hell, Moca!? How is your bag such a mess!? How did you not notice that till now?”

“Ah,” Moca picked up as much of the alleged fruit in a tissue as she could and looked at it closer, “it’s not that bad, Ran, it was just one apple or pear I forgot about in the past four months, it’s not like I forgot about seven or eight.”

Ran shook her head and started pushing Moca out of the room. “Clean! Your! Bag!”

Moca sighed and resigned herself. She headed downstairs and along the way she consoled the dead lump. “You did good to hang on for so long long, now you can finally meet your family~ probably,” and then she dumped it in the trash. Half of the papers in her bag were also ruined and had to be thrown out, but fortunately almost all of them were print-outs from the previous year. As she sorted out the rot-covered papers from the probably-not-rot-covered papers, her mom crossed through the kitchen with a laptop in one hand and a cup of barley tea in the other. She almost dropped them both when she saw Moca standing by the trash can sorting out her bag.

“Oh my god, Moca, you’re finally cleaning that out,” she looked on the verge of tears, “My baby… I’m so proud.”

“Hehe,” Moca grinned smugly, “Yes, I’m being very responsible. Because Ran asked me to.”

Her mother grinned back and walked by to bump her lightly with her shoulder. “Make sure you keep it clean this time, girls don’t like their girlfriends to be that messy. At least none of my girlfriends ever did.”

“Okay~” Moca said, and then she stuffed all her clean papers back into her bag and crammed them down underneath her workbooks. As she was heading back upstairs, the house phone rang.

“Ah, I’ll get that, Moca!” her mother called out, though they both already knew who it was. There were only three people Moca knew of who would call the landline to their house, and two of them were her grandparents.

“Oh, hello Mitake-san,” Moca’s mother said as she glanced up at Moca and nodded. Moca paused on the steps and listened.

“Yes, Ran is over here with Moca. Oh no, they’re studying. Yes. Yes, I’ve asked Ran to stay for dinner if that’s alright. Of course. Yes, I checked they’re definitely studying – Moca got the top score in the last mock exam. Absolutely. Oh yes, I always make sure they’re studying in the living room now, but if they go into her room I’ll make sure they keep the door open and I’ll check in on them. Thank you. Yes. Of course, you have a good evening as well, Mitake-san.”

The phone fell onto the receiver with a soft click and as soon as it did, Moca’s mother scoffed and glowered. “God, he’s awful – ah, don’t tell Ran I said that.”

Moca smiled and shrugged. “I won’t.” _Though Ran probably knows already_ , she thought.

“Good,” her mom smiled a bit, “I know you just heard but I told him Ran would be staying over and eating dinner here, so everything should be fine for tonight. I should have dinner up in about an hour or so.”

“Thanks mom,” Moca said, “and we’ll leave the door open~”

“Pfft, god no,” She laughed, “Close the door, Moca. I don’t care what you two get up to as long as you don’t wake me or the neighbors.”

Moca raised her hands over her head. “Yay~ Thank you mama, you’re the best. Now Ran can woo me with poetry about my pretty eyes in private~”

Moca started back upstairs and then paused. A pair of mugs drying on the kitchen counter caught her eye, both white with a single star on one side. Moca smiled without meaning to and she headed back downstairs.

“I guess I’ll bring some tea up, in case Ran wants some.”

Moca bumped her bedroom door open with her hip and she backed inside with a mug full of tea in each hand. She found Ran sitting by the window again, staring out at the rain. Moca had only been gone about ten or fifteen minutes and already, Ran was lost in thought again.

“Ran~ I brought tea, you want some?”

Ran didn’t move and she spoke quietly, “…Just set it down here… thanks.”

Moca leaned over further than she needed to and set the mug on top of a pile of blank sheet music and empty guitar tabs.

“Okay~ But don’t spill it on my incredibly important new composition for our next song. Hii-chan would be devastated.”

Ran didn’t respond. Moca felt a breath stick in her throat and she stepped back. She wasn’t sure why her mouth always twitched into such a frail smile whenever Ran was like this, and whenever she felt bitter that she couldn't seem to help.

Ran pressed her forehead against the glass and clenched her fist.

“Why do I keep screwing up…” Her hands were starting to shake. “Everything’s going good for the first time in a long time! My dad’s not yelling at me every night and we have a show lined up soon, and then I messed this up…”

“Ran…” Moca reached out and then pulled her hand back. She didn’t know what to do or what she could say. Every time she’d messed up in her life, literal dozens of dozens of times, she had someone there helping her. When she had trouble in school her mom helped or encouraged her without threatening to take away everything she cared about. At work, Lisa and their manager just corrected her or fixed things without threatening to fire her on the spot. In Afterglow, even though they were all clumsy at the start, somehow everyone believed she could be the lead guitarist for some reason.

 _Well,_ she thought, her smile still crooked, _I am super adorable and powerful so it’s only natural… maybe… just not talented enough to keep Ran from feeling awful like this._

She wanted to say something to Ran but she wasn’t sure what would help. Teasing her probably wasn’t the best idea, but trying to tell her everything would be alright just felt so tepid. Ran sighed and her forehead bumped the glass again.

“…Sorry.”

“Ran…” Moca smiled a bit, “You don’t really have to apologize for anything… it’ll be ok.”

“Not if I fail the makeup test too…”

Moca finally moved closer. “Aah~ Ran, you’re talking way too much about school and we’re not even at school. You need to follow Moca-chan’s example and focus on fun things instead.”

Ran grimaced. “Moca, this won’t go away just by not thinking about it. I can’t just ignore it…”

“How dare you,” Moca feigned anger, “I think about serious stuff all the time, along with bread and everything else. Besides that though, no one can think about serious stuff every second. You’ll wear yourself out too fast.”

Ran didn’t answer and Moca felt her chest tighten again. She wanted to help so badly it burned at the tips of her fingers and she was getting tired of feeling useless. At the very least, she figured that since Ran was so bad at distracting herself, maybe she could do it for her. She set her own mug down, walked up behind Ran, and wrapped her arms around Ran’s waist. Ran almost jumped in place.

“M-Moca, what are you doing!?”

“Ran,” Moca nestled her head into the back of Ran’s neck, “You spend so much time worrying about yourself when the rest of us already worry about you. You know you can leave that to Moca-chan, right?”

In the reflection of the window, Moca could see Ran looking confused and flustered. _That’s fine,_ She thought, _flustered Ran isn’t sad Ran, so that’s fine._

“Moca, what are you even talking about?”

Moca just hummed. “I’m not gonna let go till you say yes~”

And then Ran shifted in place, settled her weight against Moca, and tried to hide her face from the window's reflection.

“…you don’t have to let go.”

Moca grinned. “Hehe, good. Just leave everything to Moca-chan.”

 

* * *

 

One of the perks of being childhood friends, as Moca found out, was knowing exactly how to hold each other in the most comfortable ways. It didn’t take long for Ran to feel tired on her feet and so Moca suggested they move to the bed, which led to Ran lying on her side facing the wall with Moca wrapped around her back and her hands spread across Ran’s stomach. The rain was slower now and it barely beat out an audible rhythm. Minutes passed before either of them spoke, and it was Ran who broke the silence when they did.

“…We’ll have to eat dinner soon”

“Oooh,” Moca said, “nice, it’s Nabe tonight.”

Ran grumbled again, about something too garbled to understand that was probably a complaint about Moca’s teasing. Moca just leaned closer and hovered over Ran’s ear.

“…Ran, just don’t think about it for a while.”

“How?” Ran’s face twisted and wrinkled and she tried to make it stop, “I can’t just stop… every time I start thinking of something else I just get stuck back there thinking about how much he’s gonna yell when he finds out or what he’ll do or how bad I messed up… I don’t know how to – ”

Ran almost squeaked, which was the reaction Moca expected when she nibbled on the edge of Ran’s ear. Ran turned back, hand over her mouth and scowling fierce while Moca smirked at her.

“Oh, Ran’s ear is very tasty. Not as good as bread but very soft.”

Even with the lights off and the sun down, Ran’s face and ears were clearly red.

“What!? What are you doing!?”

“I told you,” Moca said with a huge grin, “leave everything to Moca-chan.”

Ran started to grumble again and Moca kissed her neck. She kissed the knob of her spine and then the line of her jaw, the edge of her collar and the top of her back. Ran fidgeted at first and then sank into the bed, layering her hands over Moca’s and pulling them tighter. Then Moca moved her hands to unbutton the top of Ran’s shirt and Ran nearly bolted upright.

“Moca!? We can't do that now!”

“Oh Ran, what terrible thing were you thinking of doing to sweet Moca-chan?” Moca teased as she slipped Ran’s shirt down just far enough to fall off her shoulder, “We’re about to have dinner and I’m just kissing your shoulders.”

Ran looked back at her and glowered. “I’m gonna kill you later.”

“Okay~” Moca said in between kisses along the top of Ran’s shoulder, “Make sure you give Tomo-chin back the manga I borrowed from her~”

They both laughed for part of an awkward breath.

It was nice, kissing Ran. Beyond the fact that she was pretty, and cute, and incredibly cool even when she was flustered, and beyond the fact that Moca just liked the idea of kissing girls, she just really liked it when the two of them were this close.

When Moca moved back up and started kissing the bottom of Ran’s ears, she suddenly squirmed.

“Wait…”

“Ah, sorry,” Moca pulled back, quickly dropping any taunt from her voice, “should I stop?”

Ran was quiet for a moment, and then she turned back to face the wall. “…I just need to move the pillow, my arm was falling asleep.”

She shifted a pillow underneath her head and moved her shoulder a bit, inching her way back against Moca and settling into the bed again. Moca’s eyes closed halfway and she smiled to herself as she leaned her head against Ran’s back. She started kissing her neck again, slowly working up toward her chin.

 _Ran is bad at talking about things,_ Moca thought, _unless she’s singing them on stage. But maybe I’m bad at talking about things too, since I haven’t really told Ran how important she is. Ah. I really am kind of a useless Moca-chan. Maybe this is good, though. Maybe for now this is a good way, until we can say it to each other out loud. Oh, Ran just made a little sound, hehee…_

Moca swept her lips across the underside of Ran’s chin and Ran squeezed Moca’s hand. With an incredibly satisfied grin, Moca leaned over her ear and whispered again.

“Oh, Ran, are you still thinking about that test?”

Ran almost shouted. “I can't think about anything right now!”

“Yay~” Moca kissed Ran’s ear, “Mission accomplished. Maybe. You know it’s not good to do things halfway so, just in case,” and with that Moca leaned over and pressed their lips together, just for a second before pulling back. Ran grabbed her back down before she could move away and pulled her in again, and then Moca kissed the corners of her mouth and nose, and after a few minutes Moca realized she might be getting a bit carried away. She really liked kissing Ran, and she was so happy Ran was distracted, and also holding Ran against her felt really nice, and so she just kept touching her lips to Ran’s skin over and over… it wasn’t until she heard her mom calling them to dinner that she realized how long they’d been making out on her bed.

“Moca! Ran!” Moca’s mother called again, “Dinner’s here until I eat it all!”

“Oh,” Moca said, “ Ran, are you hungry?”

Ran sat up beside her, smiling. “…We should go.”

“Okay~ Ah. Ran…” Moca glanced aside and smirked a bit, “Sorry, I left a few marks.”

Ran laughed and buttoned her shirt back up, sighing fondly. “You always leave marks. This is why we never do this on weekdays… but, thanks, Moca.”

That look. That smile. The sound of ease and comfort in Ran’s voice. All of that piled onto Moca’s stomach and hit her like a punch to the gut.

“The test stuff still feels like shit,” Ran went on, “but I feel better… so thanks.”

Moca couldn’t manage much more than an aimless grin. “Of course~ Anytime… like after dinner too?”

Ran’s eyes narrowed. “What? No.”

“Eeh?” Moca pretend to pout, “I can’t?”

“…But,” Ran looked her in the eye but only for a moment, “I want to kiss you, too…”

And for what felt like the twentieth time that night, Moca couldn’t say a word. Those words covered her in an overwhelming electric warmth and she just wanted to steep in it for hours. She got about thirty seconds before Ran started glaring at her suspiciously.

“What now? You're being weirdly quiet.”

There was just too much to say, so Moca smiled a bit and swallowed it all down. Instead she just smirked again.

“I’m so happy,” she said as she poked Ran’s cheek, “you really have fallen for Moca-chan’s irresistible charming face.”

Ran just smiled and threw a pillow at her as she climbed off the bed. “I’m going to dinner.”

“Ah, wait Ran!” and Moca hurried off after her.


	2. Attentions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Ran is feeling better, she and Moca settle back into their usual routine at dinner. Everything should be back to normal now, but when they get back up to Moca's room later that night, things don't exactly go the Same as Always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 of 2
> 
> Thank you again to dearest Izilen for your help beta reading this fic!

“Oh Ran, these stairs are so narrow~ I keep bumping into you,” Moca skipped down two steps and fell into Ran’s shoulder on purpose. Ran pushed her back with half a grin.

“Moca, stop being clumsy. I’m not gonna help if you fall on your face.”

“How cruel!” Moca pretended to stagger against the wall and she put a hand over her chest. “Do you have no sympathy for your poor frail grandmother? Come back, Ran~ You need to carry me to the table, I can’t walk there on my own~” 

She stretched her hands out and watched as Ran kept on walking into the kitchen.

“I’m eating your food if you stay there.”

Their chatter continued on across the living room and right up to the table where they sat far closer to each other than they intended. There was a lightness in Moca’s head and through her hands, like she and Ran were magnetic and it was more natural to be this close than to pull away. Moca tried to casually slide a tray of sliced beef closer toward her and Ran immediately caught on. She pinched the edge of the plate and held it in place, staring Moca down through the corner of her eye.

“Ah, Ran, this isn’t suspicious,” Moca said, “I’m just moving the meat over here so I can cook all of it for you just the way you like it~”

Ran started pulling the plate back toward her. “When has that ever been true?”

“Always,” Moca nodded, tugging the plate again, “Remember all those other times I was so generous? Like… you know, the other times.”

Ran glared, but the corner of her mouth did rise just a bit. “I’d believe you if you even knew how I liked it cooked.”

A sly grin spread across Moca’s face. “Hehe, you always get it cooked a little bit more than medium rare because you don’t like the blood but you also don’t like it when it’s too hard to chew.”

Ran was bristling. “Ok but besides that -” 

“Hey, sit back down,” Moca’s mother came into the room with a tray full of vegetables and mushrooms and set it down beside the simmering pot in the center of the table, “And stop moving the meat around, it’s all going in the same pot anyway.”

“Yes Mom~” Moca said, sitting back as Ran followed suit. They all piled the mushrooms, meat, and onions into the pot first and then gradually added everything else as the broth started to boil. Once everything was cooking, Moca’s mother covered the pot and settled back into her chair.

“There, good. Now that -” She stopped suddenly when she looked at Ran, and then she glanced at Moca before shaking her head a bit and smiling.

“That should take just a few more minutes. By the way, Ran-chan, you didn’t bring a scarf with you, did you?”

Ran blinked. “No… why?”

“Well.” Moca’s mother pulled out her phone, snapped a picture, and then turned it around to show them both. Ran had three marks along her neck almost on her jaw, in addition to the small bite mark around her ear. Moca had a huge spot on the top of her shoulder and another one right over her throat. When Moca looked over to Ran to check the marks herself, Ran’s face and neck were as read as the coils on the hot plate. 

“Moca!!” Ran was already huffing and glaring at her wide-eyed and on the edge of furious. Moca tried to avoid her eyes, though she couldn’t help but grin.

“Ah… sorry,” She scratched at the corner of her mouth, “that’s a lot more than I thought it would be.”

Ran almost shouted something else at her but the sound of laughter across the table drowned her out. Moca’s mother picked a bundle of mushrooms and piled it onto her plate.

“You two are cute,” She snatched a few pieces of beef and tofu from Moca and stashed them next to her mushrooms, “but also, maybe do that after dinner next time so I don’t have to point it out. Oh, and Ran-chan, I can show you have to cover that with concealer for school tomorrow if you want.”

“Thank you,” Ran’s voice was serious and sincere, “and, sorry.”

“Ha, don’t apologize,” She laughed again, “Listen, you’re not doing anything wrong so you don’t have to worry about that, just be safe and talk to each other before you do stuff, ok?”

“Okay~” Moca hummed and fought with Ran for a piece of meat in the pot, but she let her hand slip on purpose.  _ Just talk to each other... _ Moca caught her smile turning wry as she stirred the pot aimlessly,  _ Well, we're working on it...  _

A phone buzzed against the table and Moca’s mother looked down with disgust. She chewed through another two pieces of tofu and then picked the phone up just before it buzzed over the edge and onto the floor.

“Hello, this is Aoba. What? No, I already sent the proof over and - No, we haven’t had any changes approved yet. Okay, give me ten minutes and I’ll forward it to you again. Thank you.”

She hung up and gargled out a sigh. “Okay, I’ve got to do some work for a bit. You can both leave the pot on warm once you’re done, I shouldn’t be too long.”

“Don’t work too long, mama,” Moca called after her as she left the room and searched for her laptop, “I’ll steal all the tofu~”

“Go ahead!” she called out, and then disappeared into the far end of the house.

They carried on without her and after a while, Ran nodded to herself.

“Your mom…”

“Hm?” Moca tilted her head, “What about her?”

“She’s kind of cool.”

Moca narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. “Of course. She’s related to Moca-chan, after all.”

_ There... _ Moca thought,  _ we can just keep going like this, and Ran will glare at me and laugh… we can keep going like this. _

But Ran didn’t glare at her and she didn’t laugh. She looked calm and content and there was a fondness in her voice that caught Moca off guard. She just said, “...yeah,” and that was enough to make Moca’s pulse pound inside her ears. Maybe, at least sometimes, they could be a bit more honest with each other like this. Moca felt a bit prickly and sick with relief and she pushed her plate across the table.

“Here Ran,” She looked up and offered the plate solemnly, “you can have my last piece of Tofu.”

“What?” Ran looked down and then she glared at Moca. “You already took a bite out of it! I don’t want your half-eaten tofu.”

“Aw,” Moca sighed and feigned distress, “Ran, you don’t want my indirect kiss tofu?” 

“We already have direct kisses. I don’t want your chewed up tofu!” And they laughed.

* * *

 

Moca’s mother was still on the phone with her firm when Moca and Ran were almost finished cleaning the dishes. Moca eventually threw the rest of the ingredients in the pot, cooked them all, and set it on the counter to cool. 

“This happens sometimes with mama’s firm,” She told Ran as she rinsed off the last of the plates and set it out to dry, “so sometimes Moca-chan cleans the dishes. I’m so responsible.”

“Mm… yeah,” Ran glanced into the other room for a moment and she seemed lost in thought, “We haven’t really talked about it before but, it’s just you and your mom still?”

“Yep~” Moca stretched out her arms and tried to slide the dish towel off of her shoulder toward her wrist, mostly for no reason at all. 

“Her last boyfriend did a bad job of appreciating her Elegant Lifestyle so she dumped him, and also I forgot his name.”

Ran looked lost. “Elegant… lifestyle?”

Moca nodded. “Yeah. See, Moca-chan and Mama get along so well because we have a lot in common,” She started counting on her fingers, “We’re both super cute, we love bread, and we both like kissing girls~ but her last boyfriend didn’t like that part so she got rid of him~ Anyway, now she’s seeing a lady at her company, very happy ending.” Moca gave another sagely nod as if she’d just finished summarizing a book report from grade school. She waited for Ran to ask another question, but Ran was staring off at something beyond the walls and maybe even beyond the sky. Moca left her in peace for the moment and finished the rest of the cleaning.

Eventually Ran snapped back to attention, some time after Moca started balancing a butter knife on her nose.

“Oh. Right, we should go back upstairs.”

“Yes,” Moca smiled and held Ran’s arm in a lazy grip, “let’s go, let’s go~ You can finally sing me that love song you’ve been writing for me~”

Ran smiled. “Shut up.” 

* * *

 

Since they did get caught in the rain, they decided they’d be best off taking baths and changing into pajamas. It was a responsible decision they both made to avoid catching a cold and definitely not at all because they both liked the idea of Ran lounging around in one of Moca’s shirts and a pair of her boxers. Moca took her bath last and when she came back to her room after drying off her hair, she found Ran lying across the bed with her legs dangling over the side as she scrolled through her phone. She was wearing a t-shirt from one of their favorite metal bands, one that they both bought in middle school that was now almost faded out from black to a charcoal grey.

“Ahh,” Moca raised a finger to her mouth as if she suddenly remembered something, “we have classic lit tomorrow, don’t we? Ran, do you want me to read all the poems to you~?”

Ran kept scrolling through her phone. “I already read them,” She said flatly. Moca dropped her hand and thought for a moment.

“Oh no, Ran~” Moca hopped on one foot and made a show of losing her balance, “Your frail great-great-great grandmother Moca is tripping, she’s falling on you~”

She delicately threw herself onto Ran with the grace of a falling snowdrift. Ran snorted and laughed as she pushed her off and Moca just stared at her. The amount of joy she was dealing with then, seeing Ran laugh and act so light and relaxed like that, was starting to smear her thoughts into a big, messy, happy blur. Soon after, Ran sat up and looked around the room.

“Hey, Moca… would your mom get mad if we got out your guitar?”

“Hm… no, probably not,” Moca pushed herself back up and sat up beside Ran, “as long as we don’t hook it up to the amp it’s pretty quiet. Ah, you want to Serenade me. Ran, how sweet!”

Ran pushed her a bit and grinned. “Just give me your guitar.”

It was a simple request so Moca didn’t think anything of it at first - she pulled her guitar out of its case, tuned it quickly, and handed it over. The motions of it all was so practiced and natural it was automatic; she didn’t realize just how she would feel seeing Ran sit on her bed, wearing her clothes, and playing her guitar until it happened all at once right there in front of her. Ran strummed a couple of cords and then she found her place and started to sing the song they all played at the last Girls’ Jam.

> _ I want to give you my real voice, _ _  
>  _ _ These honest words… _

Moca wasn’t prepared, not in her nerves or her heart or her brain or in whatever part of her bones kept them from feeling like flan. Hearing Ran sing that song, on her bed, with her guitar… she knew that it would be amazing, but Moca didn’t realize just what sort of amazing it would be. It was like every time they traded clothes but even bigger, and then when she sang along so quiet to the unplugged guitar it felt like they were the only ones in an empty classroom together passing notes back and forth. 

> _ I’m sure I won’t lose my way anymore _ _  
>  _ _ I won’t run away anymore _ _  
>  _ _ Hold me as tight as you can _

Ran was focused on confident and perfectly at ease. Her voice was a little tense but she was steady, and she missed a note but she didn’t falter. Through all of that Moca felt like she was full of static and warm dryer lint and she couldn’t think of anything but what she saw and heard right there in front of her. And then in the middle of a phrase, Ran stopped and looked up. It took Moca a moment to realize that Ran was looking right at her. 

“Moca!? What’s wrong?”

“Huh?” Moca blinked. “What are you talking about?”

Ran set the guitar down and and stood up, putting her hands on Moca’s shoulders. “Why are you crying!?”

“Eh!?” Moca shook her head, “I’m not crying, you’re crying!”

But that was a lie. Moca didn’t realize until she felt the first tear roll off her chin, but she knew soon enough. She cracked a smile weakly and laughed to herself.

“Ah~ I am crying. Ran, how could you… you made Moca-chan cry…”

Ran was starting to spin into a mild panic. “Wait, what happened? How is it my fault!?”

Arguing the point wasn’t going to get them anywhere, Moca decided, and so she hugged Ran and leaned against her.

“Yeah, it’s your fault…” 

She wanted to go on and say “because you’re Ran. Of course I would cry over you…” but instead, she just bit her lip to keep herself quiet. Ran held her for a while and started to rub her back in small circles. Moca hid her face in Ran’s hair and buried it against her shoulder until she felt her eyes drying, then she pulled back just enough to look Ran in the eye. 

“See, I told you Ran~ you sang such a beautiful serenade for Moca-chan that you moved me to tears.”

Ran glared at her, still a bit unsure. “I doubt it,” She said, and then she paused.

“Hehe, really? It’s true though.” Moca smirked and wiped her eyes across her sleeve, but she couldn’t keep the smirk up for very long. Before Ran could say another word, Moca pulled her close again.

“It’s true. Ran, I’m really glad.”

Another one of the benefits of being childhood friends was understanding the things that were said in between breaths. They were both terrible at saying exactly what they felt so it took Ran a little bit to realize, but soon she understood what Moca was really saying. Ran pushed her fingers through Moca’s hair and cradled the back of her head, and then as soon as Moca let her, Ran pulled away just far enough to press their foreheads together. They were close enough for Ran to see her own reflection in Moca’s eyes.

“Moca,” She said, stroking the back of Moca’s head with her thumb, “Thanks.”

“Ah, haha,” Moca laughed, more uneasily than usual, “...yeah.”

Her hands were wrapped around Ran’s waist, clasped tight but fallen slack like a mooring rope that anchored Moca in place. After another moment of laughing between breaths, Moca started to smirk again. She had a brilliant plan and the perfect opportunity to tease Ran in that moment.

“Hehe, Ran, you -”

And then the plan fell apart, because as soon as Moca opened her mouth, Ran kissed her. As soon as Ran pulled back she kissed her again, just off center, and then again, and soon Moca was leaning back against the bed with her neck craned up while Ran held her face with both hands.

“Ah, Ran!” Moca barely managed to talk in the half seconds that her mouth was free, “no fair…”

“Listen,” Ran paused for a breath, “I have to do it this way or you’ll tease me and I’ll get off-balance again.”

“Awwww, but it’s so much fun to -” 

Ran didn’t let her finish that thought. One of the great things about singers is that they have amazing lung capacity. That was also one of the terrible things about making out with Ran, because soon Moca was gasping for breath in between long, ecstatic phrases of affection pressed against her lips and face. It didn’t take long for her to run out of breath completely and she fell onto her back just to catch a moment of relief. She was panting and every single inch of her skin was bright pink except for the darker marks along her neck and shoulder. Ran crawled onto the bed over her and cautiously pinned her wrists down.

“Is this… is this okay?” She relaxed her grip twice, unsure of whether or not she should even be holding on. Moca was still recovering and she panted out a laugh like a winded hyena.

“Yeah…” And then Moca took a deep breath and smiled. She answered Ran looking reckless and flustered and incredibly pleased with herself, “I will let Ran take the lead this time so please spoil Moca-chan a lot~” 

Ran gave her a slanted smile and grumbled with a trace of affection.

“Why do I love such a weirdo?”

As soon as Moca heard that, she was beaming.

“Heehee, Ran loves me~”

Ran tried to kiss her but Moca rolled her head aside and kept humming.

“Ran we’re so in love~ how romantic~”

“M-Moca!”

“Ran loves me~ She’s so -”

Ran finally caught Moca and kissed her until they were both out of breath, and that was the last time Moca managed to tease her that night. The next time they said those words to each other, they were serious, and quiet, and whispered into each other’s hair. They finally fell asleep just after midnight, both winded and weary and unwilling to pull themselves apart.

In the morning, Ran woke up to find a sleepy Moca sprawled out across her chest, hair a tousled mess and her shirt stretched out hopelessly at the collar. Moca’s chest rose slowly as she slept and as soon as Ran started watching her, she noticed her own breathe keeping time. It was nice. The smell of Moca’s bed and her hair and her clothes were all mixed up around Ran and the weight of Moca against her felt like they belonged here, at this moment and in this position and with absolute certainty. Ran looked down at Moca’s sleeping face and felt her nerves all discharge like fireworks, then settle into calm. She hated how well she knew what that feeling meant.

“It’d be nice,” She whispered to herself, “if we could be like this all the time from now on… every day…”

“Oh?” Moca looked up and raised a hand to cover her crooked grin, “Ran, how bold of you. I accept your proposal~ Moca-chan will be your lovely bride.”

“Moca, you -” Ran threw a pillow at Moca’s face and pushed her away. Moca threw a pillow back and then affections escalated as Ran started tickling her. By the time Moca’s alarm went off they’d both fallen onto the floor and doubled over laughing. 

“Come on,” Ran said, finally standing, “We have to get ready.”

“Okay, okay,” Moca said, leaning into Ran’s back, “But remember, we’re engaged now so you gotta buy me a donut ring~”

Ran grabbed her uniform and her jacket and headed into the hall. “I’m going on ahead.”

“Ah, you didn’t say no!” Moca climbed up and hurried after her, “That means you’re buying me a donut right? Right?”

“What?” Ran looked back at her in disbelief, “What are you talking about? I’m not buying you a donut.”

That much was true. The bakery was out of donuts by the time they got there, so Ran and Moca bought each other custard buns instead. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At present I don't think there's much detail about Moca's mother other than that she works as a graphic designer, so I took a few liberties within this fic that probably won't match up to canon in that regard.

**Author's Note:**

> I originally had an (initially unintentional) gag where Moca said they were having Kabedon for dinner, which was my brain completely mixing up Katsudon the food with Kabedon the dramatic-romantic wall pinning move, and I thought actually wait Moca might say that as a joke lol, let's keep it...
> 
> But then I decided they were going to eat Nabe so I got rid of that line.


End file.
